


The Paradox Occurs

by Moebius



Category: Terminator (Movies)
Genre: F/F, canonical death, no fate but what we make
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21841720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moebius/pseuds/Moebius
Summary: No fate but what we make, right? But what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?The paradox occurs.
Relationships: Grace & Dani Ramos, Grace Harper & Dani Ramos, Grace Harper/Dani Ramos, Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 13
Kudos: 76
Collections: Yuletide 2019





	The Paradox Occurs

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lizzen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizzen/gifts).



> There are spoilers for the events of _Terminator_ and _Terminator: Dark Fate_ , as well as some references here and there to other parts of the franchise.
> 
> To my recipient, Lizzen: Hello! Thank you for your great prompts. I was really torn between a couple of them, but went with Terminator because I couldn't get Grace and Dani off my mind after I saw the movie. Then I saw the movie again, and wow. What stood out to me that second time was the look on Dani's face when she realized who the young Grace was. Anyway, I also love the parallels between Sarah/Kyle and Dani/Grace, so it was lovely to get the opportunity to explore that a tiny bit.
> 
> I tried to capture the feel of time travel and loops, which was more challenging than I expected. So I hope that comes across! But mostly I hope you enjoy, and have a very happy Yuletide!

**2042**  
Grace opened her eyes. Slowly. Her skin felt like it was on fire, like she had a sunburn on the inside. She remembered sunburns from the years before she lived underground, before her body was clad in bulletproof armor every day, when there were things like beach holidays and camping trips and when she didn’t have to live in darkness to avoid roving HK drones.

She blinked against the light from the harsh halogen lamps, her eyes adjusting as the person standing over her bed came into focus. Dani. Her commander, her best friend, her partner. “You’re alive,” she croaked.

“You’re an idiot,” Dani replied. Half her head was shaved, haphazardly, and on the freshly bald side there was a large laceration that had been stapled closed. She reached out and touched Grace’s hand, gently. “What have you done?”

“It’s fine, augmentation -”

“Is a death sentence. I won’t let you do this.”

“I thought you were dead. And they sent back a Rev-”

“I know what they did.”

“You can’t stop me now. It’s already done. It can’t be undone.”

Dani sighed and brushed a sweat-heavy lock of Grace’s hair out of her eyes. “Do you remember the first day you met me?”

“Of course.” Grace tried to sit up, but her newly enhanced muscles weren’t used to receiving instructions from her brain yet. Instead she slowly slid up into a sitting position. Dani climbed into the bed beside her, surprising Grace. They had a general rule to keep their relationship as professional as possible when in public, to avoid anyone thinking Grace got special favors.

Grace held back a wince as Dani curled into her body, but once she was there, they both settled comfortably into each other. “You saved me from that gang looking for food.”

“Mmmhm.”

“And you gave that speech, and I knew I wanted to follow you. Anywhere.”

Dani looked up at her. “You were just a kid.”

“So were you.” Grace smiled. “You’re not that much older than me.”

“Older enough.” It’s a conversation they had several times once their relationship became more than platonic. It always ended the same way, with playful bantering back and forth about age, laced with the unspoken fear that age meant less when you could die the next time you opened your eyes. Eventually the banter would fade and one of them, usually Dani, would change the subject or end the conversation with a kiss.

This time, Grace didn’t let it go. Something clicked in her head. “You’d already met me.” In her arms, Dani stiffened, but stayed silent. Grace continued. “You met the older me… _this_ me... who traveled to the past to save you.”

“Grace - “

“So I save you.”

“Not the moral of the story, Grace.”

Grace shook her head. “It is to me.”

“What does it even mean?”

“What?”

“To _save_ me. If you die, what does it matter?”

Grace craned her neck down to get a better look at Dani. It hurt, but she ignored the pain. “Are you serious?”

Dani shrugged, but said nothing.

“It’s not about me, it’s about everyone. You’re the Commander, you’re why we’re still alive. Why we’re all still alive. And you’ve always known, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

The sound that came from Dani wasn’t quite a laugh, wasn’t quite a sob. “To protect you.”

Against the burn of Grace’s skin, Dani’s tears felt cool. Grace shivered.

**2019**  
“Who’d they send back to protect you?”

“What?”

“You said you were me. Who was your Grace?”

Sarah slides her sunglasses down her nose and gazes pointedly at Dani. “A soldier named Kyle Reese.”

“Oh.”

“Oh.”

“What happened to him?”

“He died protecting me.”

Dani involuntarily glances at Grace, who catches her gaze and waves once, hesitantly. Dani waves back, just as hesitantly, then pretends she’s trying to shade her eyes. Sarah raises an eyebrow at the gesture, but by the time Dani turns back to her, her face is stoic again. “I won’t let that happen to Grace.”

“If you say so.” Sarah stands and dusts non-existent dust off her jeans. She holds out a shotgun. “Guess you better learn to fight, then. We doing this?”

“Yeah.” Dani takes the gun from Sarah. It’s not as heavy as she’d been expecting. She thinks about Grace, about how heavy she’d been when she was unconscious and how the surprising weight of her never felt like a burden. She hadn’t felt a moment of hesitation; Dani wanted to save Grace, so she carried her when she could and found other methods when she couldn’t. But Grace was a weapon, like the gun. Wasn’t she?

Sarah snaps her fingers in front of Dani’s eyes, shaking her out of her thoughts. “C’mon. You’ve got a lot to learn and not a lot of time to learn it if you want to survive. Terminators don’t kill themselves, kid. Usually.”

Dani doesn’t ask her what she means. She’s not sure she wants to know.

 **2042**  
“Did you know?” Dani had just watched Grace transport herself back to 2019, to Mexico and the younger Dani Ramos, where this Dani knew her younger self would fall in love with the strange and angry woman from the future.

The woman next to her stood, craggy face stoic, short-cropped hair a silvery blue in the fading light of the time displacement equipment. “Of course I knew. So did you.”

“What happened to ‘no fate but what we make?’ Huh?” When she didn’t receive an answer, Dani spun to face the woman. “Sarah?”

Sarah turned to look at Dani and leaned against her cane. The rumors around camp were that it was mostly for effect, and that the almost-eighty-year old woman — who they all called Weaver — could still kick most people’s asses. After all, how else would she have survived this long? She was practically unrecognizable from the woman she’d been before, and Dani was the only person who even knew her real name. Sarah had stayed with her all these years, teaching Dani everything she knew, until she’d run out of things to say and weapons to explain, and Dani was teaching others. “That was about you. And John, once upon a time. Judgment Day always happens, because humanity is too fucked up not to make monsters that will kill it. The trick is not letting _them_ dictate our fate. The monsters. The machines.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Sure you do. It’s why you sent her back.”

Dani shook her head. As far as she was concerned, Grace had already made the decision when she got augmented. She’d locked in the fate that Dani had always hoped to avoid, and Dani only decided not to argue because she didn’t want their last words — _her_ last words to Grace — to be angry ones. “Maybe it’ll be different this time.”

“Okay.” Sarah shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. All that alternate universe bullshit they used to do in the movies. Maybe somewhere out there John is still alive. Alive right now, leading the Resistance. Or just an average man living an average life with his kids. Maybe I’m a fucking grandma. Maybe he married you.”

Dani wrinkled her nose. “Probably not. What’s your point?”

“My point, Daniella, is that even if it’s different this time you’re never going to know. So I hope you said one hell of a goodbye.”

**2019/2042**

Dani will always say goodbye the same way, with tears in her eyes and a hope that the future will be different next time. Grace will always try to comfort her, and the last words she’ll speak to Dani, no matter when they’re spoken, will be soft and calm. Dani will feel guilt and anger, wrapped up together, and sadness because she couldn’t prevent what Grace had already accepted as her fate.

They will touch once more, a contact broken by Grace’s departure. And then, one day, another time, they will meet again.


End file.
